From restaurant menus to supply apps, a large-scale evaluation reveals how the value of every calorie shifts as meals turn into extra energy-dense, elevating questions on what shoppers actually pay for more healthy selections.
Research: Is there a healthy-food premium? A cross-sectional analysis of the UK online food delivery sector. Picture Credit score: Shutterstock AI
Decrease-calorie menu gadgets from giant restaurant chains on two main UK on-line meals supply platforms price extra per calorie than higher-calorie choices, in response to a brand new research printed within the journal Health Promotion International.
Background
A suboptimal weight-reduction plan, characterised by low consumption of greens, fruits, and entire grains and excessive consumption of salt, is a number one threat issue for cardiometabolic illnesses, accounting for an estimated 11 million deaths annually worldwide. The chance is extra pronounced amongst socioeconomically deprived people, augmenting well being disparities.
Within the UK, weight problems and diet-related illnesses are disproportionately prevalent in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas, the place bodily fast-food outlet density is larger, and residents can entry extra meals retailers by on-line meals supply platforms.
The expansion of on-line meals supply platforms has elevated considerably for the reason that COVID-19 pandemic. These platforms combination menus from a variety of meals retailers, offering entry to quite a lot of cuisines. Nevertheless, these platforms regularly characteristic high-calorie, nutritionally poor meals for shoppers.
Worth is a major determinant of meals alternative. In retail settings, calorie-dense meals are typically cheaper per unit of vitality, whereas earlier analysis has additionally discovered frequent value promotions on on-line supply platforms, which can encourage the choice of calorie-dense meals.
In England, restrictions on volume-based value promotions for high-fat, high-salt, and high-sugar merchandise in retail settings took impact in October 2025. The out-of-home meals sector, together with meals bought by on-line apps and aggregator platforms, is exempt from these restrictions, doubtlessly permitting monetary incentives favoring higher-calorie choices to persist.
Given the disparities in pricing patterns throughout the UK on-line meals supply sector, researchers on the London Faculty of Hygiene and Tropical Medication, UK, explored the affiliation between meals value and calorie content material throughout giant restaurant chains and assessed whether or not a value premium exists for meals gadgets containing lower than 600 kcal, per suggestions for calorie content material per meal in England.
Key findings
A complete of 7392 distinctive grownup menu gadgets from 200 restaurant chains had been examined by the researchers. The findings indicated that about 41% of the meals gadgets contained not less than 600 kcal, which is at or above the really helpful calorie content material per meal. This included 52% of the principle dishes.
The evaluation of the price-calorie relationship confirmed that costs typically elevated as calorie content material rose, however the improve grew to become progressively smaller at larger calorie ranges. This meant that higher-calorie meals supplied extra energy for every pound spent, though the sample different throughout menu classes.
Particularly, meals gadgets containing lower than 600 kcal had been, on common, 70 pence costlier per 100 kcal in comparison with gadgets containing 600 kcal or extra, after accounting for menu class. The premium was notably pronounced for soups, salads, and bowls, at about £1.22-£1.27 per 100 kcal.
Research significance
The research means that these pricing patterns throughout the UK on-line meals supply sector financially favor higher-calorie choices and will discourage the choice of lower-calorie alternate options. It implies that shoppers in search of lower-calorie meals selections might pay extra per 100 kcal, though these things have decrease common absolute costs.
This inverse relationship between calorie density and value per calorie is a documented structural characteristic of worldwide retail meals markets. The comparatively larger price of vegetables and fruit is likely one of the main reflections of this inverse relationship.
Though this research examined solely ready-to-eat merchandise from the out-of-home meals sector, related pricing patterns have been noticed in UK supermarkets, the place unhealthy meals are cheaper per calorie than more healthy meals. Nevertheless, the findings usually are not immediately comparable as a result of grocery store research outlined healthiness utilizing nutrient profiles, whereas the present research categorised gadgets primarily based on whether or not they contained fewer than 600 kcal.
To some extent, this price discount per further calorie is anticipated, as a result of nonfood prices related to every menu merchandise, reminiscent of labor and lease, might not scale proportionally with calorie content material. This may increasingly partly clarify why high-calorie gadgets are comparatively inexpensive per calorie than low-calorie gadgets.
The authors additionally counsel that contemporary, lower-energy-density components might incur larger storage and preparation prices, whereas some energy-dense or ultra-processed components might present energy at a decrease unit price. These elements may contribute to the upper base price of low-calorie meals gadgets.
Collectively, these findings point out that the present pricing construction throughout the UK on-line meals supply sector might impose an financial barrier to lower-calorie meals selections, notably for socioeconomically deprived people. Moreover, these monetary incentives might contribute to diet-related well being inequalities, as a premium on lower-calorie choices may devour a bigger share of the meals budgets of lower-income shoppers. Nevertheless, the research contained no purchaser-level info and subsequently couldn’t decide who purchased particular person menu gadgets or whether or not pricing variations influenced precise buying habits.
In addition to financial constraints, folks with restricted time for cooking on account of work-related stress or restricted mobility on account of well being problems could also be extra reliant on on-line meals supply platforms and will subsequently be extra affected by per-calorie pricing disparities. The same concern applies to youthful adults and households with kids, amongst whom app use is extra frequent.
Taken collectively, these findings help consideration of structural coverage interventions to mitigate diet-related well being inequalities and guarantee extra equitable entry to lower-calorie choices.
The evaluation centered on menu gadgets from giant restaurant chains out there on two main UK on-line meals supply platforms. Though this research design captured a major market share, the findings might not be generalizable to unbiased eating places or different supply providers.
The research analyzed particular person menu gadgets moderately than full meal orders. The findings subsequently can’t replicate the financial incentives related to multiproduct meal combos and bundle reductions. Sensitivity analyses that reintroduced bundles, set meals, and sharing gadgets nonetheless produced findings per the principle evaluation.
Dietary high quality was assessed solely by calorie content material, with out info on components, macronutrients, or micronutrients, that means that gadgets beneath 600 kcal can’t routinely be thought-about nutritionally more healthy. The research additionally lacked weight or quantity knowledge, so it couldn’t decide whether or not the noticed premium mirrored manufacturing prices or variations in portion measurement.
Just one listed value was out there for every merchandise, so the researchers couldn’t distinguish normal costs from short-term promotional costs or account for order-level promotions, customized affords, supply charges, or service prices.
Bigger-scale future analysis is required to additional study pricing patterns related to kids’s menus and gadgets marketed as wholesome no matter their precise dietary high quality. The authors additionally advocate linking menu knowledge with gross sales or family buying knowledge to find out how costs, promotions, bundles, and full orders affect real-world meals selections.
